Experience with home studies for adoption?

[donna723]

It may be a little different, but I had three home studies when I was going through the process to become a foster parent. I went a little crazy, even scrubbing behind the knobs on the kitchen stove with a toothbrush!

It may not be the same, especially with a step-child adoption, but she was looking for the proximity of the kids room to an outside door and they had regulations about fire extinguishers and smoke alarms and where they were placed ... things like that. If you need them, they will tell you where they should go.

 

[AllStressedOut]

Funny, I actually keep one next to my bed.

I guess when their bio mom threatened to burn my house down with me and my PCs in it, then I found out she was arrested for two counts of arson, it made me think I might need one handy. Can't imagine why, can you?

 

[TerryJ2]

Ewwww! That's scary! That's one of the reasons I like to have dogs around ... they hear and smell things we couldn't possibly know about.

 

[Just keep swimming]

Ditto what Linda said. Our SW when we adopted easy child 3 said that our house was "kid friendly and clean". I had cleaned the bathrooms, have to...Aly has atrocious bathroom manners. I vacuumed the morning of but by the time SW got there, there was already stuff on the floor. She did not go into closets, mainly checked to see if all our toxics where locked up or put up high enough that easy child 3 couldn't reach them, made sure her room had a bed, enough room to move around in, etc. SW only peeked into the other rooms. Mainly just talked to us, the entire family individually and together about adding another child to our home. Was quite the crack up when she asked Aly, Aly was like "What? Ya mean she isn't already ours?" LOL!! easy child 3 had been with us 2 years already through foster care! LOL!!

Anyways, relax, just do a "company's coming" cleaning, and be yourselves for the "talk" part of the visit. You will do fine! They might not even do as much since they are husband's kiddos.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

Hugs,
Vickie

 

[TerryJ2]

Anyways, relax, just do a "company's coming" cleaning

That's a really good way of putting it!

 

[wakeupcall]

When our SW came I was surprised, too. She sat at the kitchen table, could tell by a roll of her eyes that it was clean and safe, and then asked normal questions that just about anyone asks about children these days. Our baby boy was cooing and batting his eyelashes just the way he did in court to the judge......it was a piece of cake. Thanks for bringing up those memories for me. At 12 I don't love it when he coos anymore! No, really, that was a wonderful day for all of us. It will be for you, too. Congratulations!!!!

 

[1 Day At a Time]

Back in the day, in my previous social worker incarnation, I did adoption home studies for independent adoptions in our city.

I was most interested in seeing parents with some experience and a kid friendly home. What's kid friendly? A fun, safe environment, preferably with some pets. I always felt like the best homes had an aquarium, some birds, cats, and dogs. Those were my favorites. I knew that the new little person would fit right in!

Homes that were too perfect, too clean, with perfect seeming parents - those were the places that scared me too death... especially the ones where children had never lived before.

Just be yourself- it'll go very well!

 

[AllStressedOut]

We have an empty aquarium, does that count? Our cat has disappeared, so no cat as of now. We have a dog that will bark your ear off if you don't live here.

I'm not going to over clean, but the clutter and dust needed to be dealt with.

I get nervous with stuff like this. I'm not good with people I don't know well.

Some people down the street used the same guy for their home study and they said he was very casual and nice. I'm hoping we feel the same after he leaves.